Away teams upset form book in Afcon qualifiers
GUINEA and Mozambique produced surprise away wins on the opening weekend of the African Nations Cup qualifiers to suggest the form book will have a few pages torn out before the 16 finalists for Cameroon 2019 are decided.
Saturday’s extensive list of matches saw Guinea upset 2015 winners Ivory Coast in Bouake, while Mozambique beat 2012 winners Zambia in Ndola.
There was also a rare away win for Mauritania, whose 1-0 triumph against Botswana was only their second ever on the road in a qualifying game.
The Democratic Republic of Congo beat neighbours Congo 3-1, while Burkina Faso, third at the finals in Gabon earlier this year, registered the same scoreline at home to Angola.
There were also wins for holders Cameroon, Burundi, Guinea Bissau, Malawi, Mali and Sierra Leone, while the Cape Verde Islands’ game against Uganda was postponed by 24-hours after the visitors were late in arriving.
Seydou Doumbia returned to the Ivory Coast side to score a double, but Guinea twice came from behind to snatch a 3-2 win with Bundesliga-based Naby Keita securing the winner 11 minutes from time.
It was a further setback for new Ivorian coach Marc Wilmots, who lost his debut game 5-0 in the Netherlands on Sunday last week in a warm-up match.
Both teams paid tribute before the game to Cheikh Tiote, the former Ivorian international midfielder who collapsed and died in training with his Chinese club on Monday.
Stanley Ratifio, an amateur with FC Cologne’s reserve team playing just his second international for Mozambique, forced home a late goal to break a four-decade drought against Zambia.
Mauritania scored 10 minutes from the end, through substitute Abdullahi Soudani for, a 1-0 triumph in Francistown.
Cedric Bakambu scored twice and Chancel Mbemba added the third for the DRC to win in Kinshasa, while Aristide Bance got two and Bertrand Traore the other in Burkina Faso’s victory.
As Cameroon are hosting the next finals, their results in the qualifiers do not count, but the 1-0 win over Morocco served as preparation for the Confederation Cup in Russia next weekend.